Maggie's Country Kitchen

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

It has been quite some time since I have posted. I've decided to come back and ramp up my cooking blog.

The winter has been long and cold here in Georgia. Spring will be here soon and once the weather turns hot here in the south it stays that way for a few months! I've tried the last few weeks to cook labor intensive meals (I prepared tamales alone and what a job that was!) and meals or recipes that require the oven.

Last Saturday I decided to bake my father a rum cake. While it wasn't fully from scratch, it was delicious and I or he couldn't tell the difference.

This cake has a definite rum flavor. But why make a rum cake if you can't taste the rum?
I've thought about using a coconut rum and topping the cake with toasted coconut. That would be
a nice treat for around the holidays.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Grease a Bundt pan with crisco and spread some of the pecans on bottom of the pan.

Add eggs, oil, water, rum into bowl and mix just until incorporated.
Add pudding mix and cake mix and beat on medium for about 4 minutes. Until mixture is smooth.

Pour into bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

At about 30 minutes into baking prepare the soaking glaze.
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add sugar and water. Bring to a boil. When it boils, remove from the heat.
Add rum. Pour into a measuring cup.

When cake is ready, take out of oven and leave in pan. Prick holes into the cake with a skewer or toothpick.
Slowly pour half of glaze over the cake, filling in the holes. Once cake has soaked up the glaze turn the cake over onto the same plate you plan to serve cake on.
Gently prick more holes on the other side and slowly pour the other half of glaze over the cake.

Let cake cool and prepare the top glaze.
Combine the powdered sugar, rum and water in a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
Add remaining pecans to glaze and pour over cake.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

I remember Sunday dinner at Maw Maw's house. Usually, I would stay overnight and early Sunday morning (around 4am), I would hear my maw maw moving around in her kitchen and preparing the meal that she would cook for her family. She never knew which one of her children, grandchildren, son-in-laws or daughter-in-laws would stop by for a bite to eat that day.

She liked to cook her food long and slow. Some of the dishes that I remember are: Swiss steak,Hash, chili (she used spaghetti noodles in her chili-my maw maw was a Yankee..haha and a great cook)supper would cook all day long and I also remember her shooing paw paw away from her stove. He would look at what was cooking and want to add his special touch.

What brings me to this post is the table that maw maw would eventually set after a long, full day of cooking. She would completely fill the table with food. With the main course there would be; several vegetables to choose from, bread, soft butter, condiments of every sort, and usually two different desserts and the pickle pot.
The pickle pot was full of crispy cucumbers and onions with vinegar and pickle spice.

I had forgotten about maw maw's pickle pot until I happened to read a blog entry at Miz Helen's Country Cottage I can remember going back for seconds and even thirds. They were always crispy, tangy and delicious.
After reading Miz Helen's blog about her pickle pots, I decided to make my own. Now the pots are sitting in my fridge for the required two weeks. It's VERY HARD to open the fridge and fight away the temptation to eat one of those crispy cucumbers!

I really enjoy reading everyone's blogs. I learn new ideas and techniques and sometimes a blog will bring back a long forgotten, special memory.

Sadly, I do not have Maw's recipe for her pickle pot. Thankfully, I had Miz Helen's recipe! One banana pepper from my garden was added to one of the jars.

The Pickle Pot

Miz Helen's Kitchen

1 Quart Glass Container

1 yellow onion sliced

3 cloves garlic

3 cups cucumber slices

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons pickling spice

White Vinegar to cover onions and pickles

Water to add to Vinegar

In
a clean GLASS container begin to layer with sliced onions, then sliced
cucumbers. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 pod of garlic.
Repeat the layer and add 1 tablespoon of the pickling spice. Repeat the
layer again ending with the last tablespoon of pickling spice and the
remainder of the salt. Fill the container 3/4 of the way full with
vinegar and 1/4 with water until the cucumbers and onions are completely
covered. Seal the jar tightly and shake up and down to distribute the
seasons. Place in the refrigerator for 2 weeks before serving, (if you
can wait that long). As the Pickle Pot empties just add more cucumbers
and onions and your Pickle Pot is always full all summer long.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

I have a confession. I have never made a pineapple upside down cake. Well until the other day.

I remember eating this cake in my grandmother's kitchen and tasting it at church homecomings. Moist cake with a decadent topping of pecans, pineapple and cherries. YUM!

Not sure why I never prepared one.Maybe I was afraid Old Betsy (the iron skillet) would fail me? Now I have renewed faith in Old Betsy. She "turned out" the prettiest cake.

I tweaked an Alton Brown recipe. Pineapple Upside Down Cornmeal Cake (wow long title) Have I mentioned I am a huge fan of his? I enjoy all the scientific explanations and such. I'm such nerd. HaHaHa. There hasn't been one of his recipes to fail me yet.

The recipe called for coarse ground cornmeal. I live in the sticks,hill, boondocks and the stores here do not have plain,coarse, ground cornmeal. I adapted and used cornmeal mix and only added 1 tsp of baking powder.

The original recipe did not call for buttermilk.I added 1/2 cup and added to the cornmeal mix along with the whole milk to soak. I allowed the mixture to soak for 45 minutes and kept stirring it to ensure good absorption.

I was amazed that there wasn't any hint of cornmeal taste or grit in this cake!

I did not chop the pecans. I wish I had. The whole pecans kind of just disappeared throughout the cake. Next time, more nuts throughout the cake!

Pineapple Upside Down Cornmeal Cake (adapted from Alton Brown)

3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk (at room temp)
1 cup white cornmeal mix
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
6 slices canned pineapple in heavy syrup
6 maraschino cherries
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
3 tablespoons juice from canned pineapple
3 whole eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a microwave-proof dish, bring the whole milk to a boil. Remove the milk from the microwave and add the cornmeal mix and buttermilk. Stir and let soak at room temperature for 45 minutes. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and carefully place 1 slice of pineapple in the center of the pan. Place the other 5 slices around the center slice in a circle. Place the cherries in the centers of the pineapple slices and sprinkle the nuts evenly over the fruit. Drizzle pineapple juice over top.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sugar to the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the canola oil and whisk. Add the cornmeal mix and milk mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add this to the flour and stir just until combined. Pour the batter over the fruit in the skillet and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes in the skillet. Set a platter on top of the skillet and carefully invert the cake. Serve.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, bread crumbs, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Mix well and form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs.

In a medium to large Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, add the meatballs and cook, shaking the skillet often, until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

I used a spoon to gently turn the meatballs, making sure to give ample time for the meat to cook and release from pan.

Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the skillet and add the carrots, potatoes, onion and celery. Cook, stirring constantly, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour and paprika and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the beef broth and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the reserved meatballs and caraway seeds, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve with buttered noodles.